Helm, Hard Right, all phasers Fire at will. finally, you are the captain, you command a Soverign class starship, and it is your mission to investigate and do what Starfleet is trained to do. This game does have a lot of combat, but for realism, as well as the fact of, YOU are the Captain, this makes it a very good game for those of us who do want to sit in that comfy captains chair.

Somehow a disappointment. It's fun and interesting, but it could have been much better in length and graphics. The mods that can be downloaded from amateur programmers adding new ships and races have much, much better quality than the software created by the developers themselves.

I remember hearing, before I played this game, that this was just about the best Star Trek game ever. I can see why. The subsystem targeting abilities for this game go unparalleled, at least as far as I know. Repairing hull damage is useful, and damage leaking through a weakened shield is reminiscent of many battles I've seen. Of course, the storyline isn't spectacular, and the limited number of ships in the original game does limit gameplay considerably. The campaign wasn't overly spectacular, and some of the other graphics (mostly beam weapons) were a bit odd. Mods are nice to have on here. So, yeah, this was a great game. Pity some of the others never quite matched up.

Bridge Commander is a decent game. The graphics for the ships are quite good considering the age of the game. The bridge sets and character models are a bit lacking, and the game has the worst lip-syncing I've ever seen. The gameplay is extremely good. You really feel as if you're piloting a massive capital ship, which is welcome as most space sims are based on fighters. You may also command from the bridge, in which case your tactical officer takes care of the flying and shooting (freeing you to manage repairs and power consumption) though you can give directions, such as keep your distance or try to keep one side of the ship facing the enemy. You can also fire on an enemies' subsystems, everything from weapons (it allows you to target specific weapons. for instance, you could target aft torpedo tube #2) to the sensors and warp core. Overall it's quite an immersive experience and it lets you do pretty much anything they do in combat on the show. The main annoyance in combat for me has been the AI. Unfortunately, both the enemy AI and the AI for your ship (if you're not controlling it directly) can be extremely stupid at times. On the bright side, the AI settings do work, changing the difficulty doesn't simply change damage multipliers as it does in some other games. The plot is also good for a trek game, it is written by D.C. Fontana. It is set in the TNG era, after the end of DS9. This game is special in that it has a huge number of mods (fan-created modifications you can download for free) that have been made for it, doing everything from replacing the ships in the game with more canon models and weapons compliments to allowing you to micromanage power and launch shuttles. There are even ships from other science fiction series, such as Star Wars, Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica. The mods turn bridge commander into an absolutely outstanding game, and the best space sim I've ever played. The primary site to get these from is www.bcfiles.com. These mods greatly improve the game's replayability, plus it's a kick to settle things like "Can the Enterprise take on a Star Destroyer" in Skirmish mode. Some of the notable members of the voice acting cast include Patrick Stewart (Picard), Brent Spiner (Data), Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Forrest, among many others) Martha Hackett (Seska) and Max Grodenchik (Rom) though only Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner reprise their previous trek roles.

This is a great game. The graphics are good, the storyline is good. With mods this game gets even better. The best part ofthis game is the Quickbattle mode. here's a url to get mods: http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/

At last, my time has come! Command! Power! Total control! Well...not really. Bridge Commander - the game that was supposed to be the flagship Star Trek game, sadly failed to live up to its potential. The basic idea is that you command a starship, and go around and save the galaxy. This part of it is very well done, to the point where you actually feel like you're in command. You face a pair of Romulan Warbirds...fight or talk? If you fight, you might take them...but then the Romulans hate you, rather than turnig up twenty minutes later and saving your butt. Choices, choices is what makes this game. But the big kicker is that you can't simply issue orders, especially to the tactial guy, and simply have them carried out. Or, at least, as well as you can to manually. It makes the game a little more exciting, but personally, if the kid's not competent to operate the phasers, can I trade him for someone else? The Speak-Up system, which theorectially meant you could use a microphone and issue actual orders just by speaking, is a complete waste of time. My friend and I (with 20 years computer experience between us) could just about get the system to recognise basic instructions, which have to be issued in a specific accent and syntax, with very exacting pronunciation. It's very annoying and doesn't half kill the sense of realism. Nevertheless, it's about as much fun as you can have without breaking the law, especially on the easiest difficulty setting which allows you to breeze through enemy ships like they don't exist. The storyline needed work, but is sufficient to allow a great deal of variety in the missions you have to try. One minute you're hiding behind an asteroid, listening on a Ferengi smuggler, cutting non-essential systems to avoid detection, nxt you're thundering around a Starbase trying to blow the hell out of kamakazi barges loaded with explosives. And if you've just finished watching DS9 and want to give those blasted spoonheads a taste of there own medicine, this is the game for you. Overall, I give this game 4/5, just because it took a radical approach to a difficult problem, and in memory of many happy nights spent turning Galor-class cruisers into scrap metal.

There's something about having the ability to heel around a Galaxy class starship and unload a full torpedo spread and letting loose with all phasers. That being said, this game from it's flight sim and combat perspective is second to none. I never had the where with all to mod this game however I was satisfied with the product. In flight, the game feels like you are piloting a million tonne space vessel with the characteristics of motion, inertia and momentum. A welcome change to games where, turning on a dime and flying around like you're an F-14 all of the time seemed to be the norm. From the get go, to the final outcome you get a very Star Trek story line complete with the 'specialists', mystery and the 'AH HA!' revelations that Star Trek is known for! (Something isn't working...COMPENSATE!) It's when you don't try to act like a Starfleet officer is when the game starts to fall flat. Firstly, you are stuck on the bridge...all of the time. It would be nice to get some interaction around the ship as part of what's going on. Go down to Engineering. Visit sickbay. Maybe transport off of the ship. Second, the save game state. One place to save often per mission and if you fail, you need to restart. Third, the rather linear game play. A to B. B to C. C to D. There really isn't a way you can go A to G, etc etc. This would have been nice to have. Lastly...the horrible character sprites and lip syncing. For all the beautiful work on damage to the models, halo effects, weapons, sounds, movement and the models themselves...to not have good lip syncing is just an inexcusable matter. I want to stress that the game is not all negatives. The ship sprites, damage, corresponding actions and consequences to the ship, not to mention the ability to perform a 'full axis rotation to port' to help an ailing dorsal shield is a damn good feeling. There's nothing more satisfying then taking out an impulse engine or 3 from an enemy ship and pick them apart, subsystem by subsystem until they meet the silence of space, where no one can hear you scream as a salvo of quantum torpedo's slam their way home.

I've been waiting for a long time to get my hands on BC. And when I finally got it....it didnt dissapoint. the ability to command my starship, directly from the fabled centre chair..Brilliant. The interfacing is good, the graphics, for such an aged game are very good and the concept is fantastic. Best of all, its generated a massive response from the gaming community, spurring dedicated modders and writers to change almost every aspect of the original game. A deffinate must play.

The story of the game is good, if somewhat familiar. The controls are good, if repetative. Where the game falls are it's graphics, cannon, and selection. The ship graphics are tolerable, but the character models are mediocre at best. The ship lacks cannon in that the weapons don't really match up with what we know. For instance, in the game the Galaxy class can only fire 4 forward torpedoes at a time, when we know she can fire 10, and has no aft phasers, which we know she does. The Sovereign has ablative armor and regenerative shields but these facts are ignored in the game. The Starbase has no shields which makes no sense at all. And the list goes on. Finally the ship selection is very narrow, there are only 5 Federation ships you see and only 2 Klingon. If more had been added to the game it would have increased the value greatly.

Every Trekkies fan. Come on, who in his right mind wouldn't want to fly a Galaxy class starship, bashing her phasers against a Keldon whilst firing your photons straight at his warp core. That is what this game lets you do, fight. Like I've read before, and said to my friends, let me get up out of my chair, let me walk around the decks. Hell I don't have to go to stellar cartagrophy, but it would be nice to see my warp core. Also, why can't we choose our own crew. It would be simply implementing a management module. Like, you could walk to your ready room, select your console, fire Kiska, your helmsman, and choose a new one. Also, make the starbase more usefull, now it was just, "Fly to the starbase to start your next mission". They could've made some damage inrepairable for the repaircrews, so you're FORCED to go back to starbase. And ofcourse, a few more ships would be nice, I'd love to fly with a Defiant, damn that would be sweet. Overall, great game. They might've kept the a cannonial enemy, and not some out-of-canon enemy like the Kessok, and why do the Cardassians always have to be the conspiriators. And why do you fail if you couldn't protect the station, they should've talked to the Klingons, not make my second in command be a back-stabber by calling the teacher, er..., I mean the admirall on me. A good second in command wouldn't do that, would she? Also the graphics could be more, but come on, everything is forgiven when you find out you get a sovreign, how ever it was just a tad to conveint. I'd would've kept my Dauntless and wanted to die during that fight in which it was destroyed. Also I miss the freedom that comes with ignoring orders and acting to where you see your presence is neccasary. That's what made Picard great, wasn't it? That is exactly my point, you don't get the full "Be the captain" ride you pay for, you get a idea of what a GOOD (a kind of following the rules "good" captain) captain does, but doesn't offer the full extent of what a Starfleet captain could do. So, to rap up this story. If you want to fire a phaser bank and fire photons against cardassians? That this is your game :).

The graphics, exelent. Gameplay, outstanding! Storyline, annoying, unimaginitive and boring. The only reason i played beyond the skirmish mode was pure insatiable curiosity, i also found myself deactivating the in-game music and speech leaving only the subtitles beacause the drab unintersting voice acting and looped "cue" music became irritating to the detriment of the game. Neverless the role of captain could have been extended beyond a floating voicless head which never left the bridge. Lets assume that Paramount recommisions Star Trek and gamemakers decide to make a sequal no one would be happier than I, because id be inclined to believe the following changes would be made such as more ships of all kind.. Defiant, Prometheus, Intrepids, borg ships of all shapes, jem'hadar etc Better crew managment and a deeper less cleche stroyline which dounsn't just serve as a plot vehecle for you to explore the space vehecle your in! Regardless, as far as star trek games go its got to be the best.

Bridge Commander is a good, solid game The extent of modifications available have kept the game enjoyable for well over 7 years. The plot itself is somewhat unique among Star Trek games made in the late 90s - early 2000s as for once the Borg do not make an appearance, and the graphics were pretty decent for the time, at least with the starships. The character models and animation could have been much better, and while the bridge sets did not necessarily look bad, they still could have used some improvement (most notably the Galaxy bridge, which aside from being horribly out of date didn't even have red alert lighting). I was really hoping for a sequel to this game, but of course that seems very unlikely. It's a real shame, because this game is truly unique with it's style of gameplay. However with the amount of knowledge Bridge Commander's modding community has about how the game works, the possibilities are limitless with this game.